Economics

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York's work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations--featuring all-new advice!

There's a reason Alison Green has been called "the Dear Abby of the work world." Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don't know what to say. Thankfully, Green does--and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You'll learn what to say when

- coworkers push their work on you--then take credit for it
- you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit "reply all"
- you're being micromanaged--or not being managed at all
- you catch a colleague in a lie
- your boss seems unhappy with your work
- your cubemate's loud speakerphone is making you homicidal
- you got drunk at the holiday party

Praise for Ask a Manager

"A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green's] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work."--Booklist (starred review)

"The author's friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers' lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience."--Library Journal (starred review)

"I am a huge fan of Alison Green's Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces--and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor."--Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide

"Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way."--Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

A myth-shattering investigation of the true cost of America's passion for finding a better bargain

From the shuttered factories of the Rust Belt to the strip malls of the Sun Belt-and almost everywhere in between-America has been transformed by its relentless fixation on low price. This pervasive yet little- examined obsession with bargains is arguably the most powerful and devastating market force of our time, having fueled an excess of consumerism that blights our land-scapes, escalates personal debt, lowers our standard of living, and even skews of our concept of time.

Spotlighting the peculiar forces that drove Americans away from quality, durability, and craftsmanship and towards quantity, quantity, and more quantity, Ellen Ruppel Shell traces the rise of the bargain through our current big-box profusion to expose the astronomically high cost of cheap.

Every day, we face the same questions: How do I make the right decision? How can I work more efficiently? And, on a more personal level, what do I want?

This updated edition of the international bestseller distills into a single volume the fifty best decision-making models used in MBA courses, and elsewhere, that will help you tackle these important questions. In minutes you can become conversant with:

The Long Tail - The Maslow Pyramids - SWOT Analysis - The Rubber Band Model - The Prisoner's Dilemma - Cognitive Dissonance - The Eisenhower Matrix - Conflict Resolution - Flow - The Personal Potential Trap - and many more.

Stylish and compact, this little book is a powerful asset. Whether you need to plan a presentation, assess someone's business idea, or get to know yourself better, this unique guide--bursting with useful visual tools--will help you simplify any problem and make the best decision.

New York Times bestelling author T. R. Reid travels around the world to solve the urgent problem of America's failing tax code, unravelling a complex topic in plain English - and telling a rollicking story along the way.

The U.S. tax code is a total write-off. Crammed with loopholes and special interest provisions, it works for no one except tax lawyers, accountants, and huge corporations. Not for the first time, we have reached a breaking point. That happened in 1922, and again in 1954, and again in 1986. In other words, every thirty-two years. Which means that the next complete overhaul is due in 2018. But what should be in this new tax code? Can we make the U.S. tax system simpler, fairer, and more efficient? Yes, yes, and yes. Can we cut tax rates and still bring in more revenue? Yes.

Other rich countries, from Estonia to New Zealand to the UK--advanced, high-tech, free-market democracies--have all devised tax regimes that are equitable, effective, and easy on the taxpayer. But the United States has languished. So byzantine are the current statutes that, by our government's own estimates, Americans spend six billion hours and $10 billion every year preparing and filing their taxes. In the Netherlands that task takes a mere fifteen minutes! Successful American companies like Apple, Caterpillar, and Google effectively pay no tax at all in some instances because of loopholes that allow them to move profits offshore. Indeed, the dysfunctional tax system has become a major cause of economic inequality.

In A Fine Mess, T. R. Reid crisscrosses the globe in search of the exact solutions to these urgent problems. With an uncanny knack for making a complex subject not just accessible but gripping, he investigates what makes good taxation (no, that's not an oxymoron) and brings that knowledge home where it is needed most. Never talking down or reflexively siding with either wing of politics, T. R. Reid presses the case for sensible root-and-branch reforms with a companionable ebullience. This affects everyone. Doing our taxes will never be America's favorite pastime, but it can and should be so much easier and fairer.